Anthropology in the Age of Technology: The Philosophical Contributions of Günther AndersThis book is the first to discuss, for an English-speaking audience, the ideas of the German-Jewish man of letters, thinker, and activist Günther Anders. Anders is one of few philosophers to deal intensely with the moral consequences of Auschwitz and Hiroshima. He can rightly be called the philosopher of the atomic age, and his thinking a philosophy of modern technology. In biting manifestoes, sharp aphorisms, and penetrating essays, in stirring diary notes and political fables, Anders strikes out the age in which we live. As a twentieth-century visionary, he exposes the absence of the moral and social imaginations that is necessary to prevent our history from ending in a total catastrophe. In the gap between our technical creations and our utter inability to imagine their destructive potential lies the basis for the unstoppable activity of this practical philosopher. From every possible angle, he attempts to comprehend this modern schizophrenia in its roots and consequences. Anders is one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. He tried to describe and analyze the variety of manifestations of the "self-destructive progress of our technical civilization," which makes humanity into an "anti-quated" sort. He diagnosed countless important problems, ranging from the world of media to the dictates of the world of machinery, and he investigated their social, political, and philosophical meaning. To read his writings is more than becoming acquainted with a rich and colorful philosopher. It is more than an encounter with a moving and passionate individual. It is ultimately a confrontation with oneself, with our own guilt and responsibility, with our personal hopes and fears, with our lack of imagination and with our need to recover it. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
according achievement action activity analysis Anders Anders's appeared applies approach artifacts atomic attempt Auschwitz become bomb called comes concept concrete consequences considered context criticism cultural danger death destruction determined discussion effects essence ethics event example existence experience expression fact feel forces freedom Günther hand happened Heidegger Heidegger's Hiroshima human ibid idea imagination individual industrial interpretation labor lack later less lies live longer machine Marxism material means metaphysics moral nature negative never nuclear object observation ontology original person philosophy political position possible present production published question reality realize reason recognizes refers reflections regarded relationship responsibility result sense shame shows situation social society speaks specific technical television term theory things thinking thought threat turn universal values writes
Popular passages
Page 171 - ESSAYS ON SOCIALIST HUMANISM, in honour of the Centenary of Bertrand Russell EDITED BY KEN COATES Contributors include Jean Paul Sartre, Vladimir Dedijer, Noam Chomsky, Lelio Basso. Mihailo Markovic and many others. "How important... that the publishers should have brought out a volume to honour the Centenary of Bertrand Russell's birth and to explore the relationship between...
Bibliographic information
| Title | Anthropology in the Age of Technology: The Philosophical Contributions of Günther Anders Brill Book Archive Part 1, ISBN: 9789004472495 Issue 103 of Value inquiry book series, ISSN 0929-8436 |
| Author | Paul van Dijk |
| Publisher | Rodopi, 2000 |
| ISBN | 9042014024, 9789042014022 |
| Length | 193 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |